The guilt of the Time lord

Is It Worth It?: Absolutely. For $10, this is an excellent story.

Prerequisites: The previous 11DC audios and Series 7 of New Who

Broken Hearts is frankly exactly what I love about the best Doctor-Companion relationships: it examines deeply the conflict that sometimes arises between them. Here, McMullin takes us on a journey that thoroughly explores both the Doctor and Valerie after their traumatic adventure in The Curiosity Shop. Both give fantastic performances, and I love almost everything about their conversations (or arguments, I should say). Even the setting is amazing; I love how they stumble across a random planet that was besieged by the Time War ages ago (and in an actual Eighth Doctor audio), and I love how that informs their dynamic. This is a supremely satisfying and emotional story, and I love it. In a way, this is the Eleventh Doctor's Scherzo, and that's a huge compliment.

Do...

Do I have another new favourite Eleventh Doctor story right after saying Curiosity Shop was it?

Eleven does often get written as a surprisingly manipulative, even cruel, incarnation of the doctor, and while others that are done the same (e.g. Seven, Twelve) often get called out for it, Eleven never really seems to face any repercussions.

Seeing a companion call him out on his BS then, especially when they've been treated as poorly as Valarie was in Curiosity Shop, is just so satisfying.

Even more than that though, this story is written perfectly for this. The threat being Empathetic Weather, created by the Time Lords in The Time War is just brilliant. Pathetic fallacy is always a great tool in a storyteller's arsenal, but taking that as a concept and weaponising it? Especially in a story like this where emotions are just so high, it's incredible.

Then there's the sideplot with the robots, they really do just feel so real and you do just get so attached to them. If the robots didn't work, the story could fall apart, but they just do work. I love how they also somewhat mirror Eleven and Valarie, going around and trying to help people even if it feels pointless, and then being voiced by Dudman and Ingar, while presumably done for budgetary reasons, also just adds so much.

Also goddamnit, McMullin steals a twist I wanted to use if/when I ever get round to writing Doctor Who stories/fanfic. Oh well, the three life signs being the three heartbeats of Valarie and The Doctor is done really well, I guess I can forgive it here.

But yeah, all in all, 11DCs just keep being hits.

Broken Hearts: 9.3/10 - Yet another really emotional and powerful story. I really felt for Valerie in this story and really enjoyed how her and the Doctor mended the relationship at the end. The setting, being a planet where the weather is determined by the emotions of its denizens, was the perfect idea for this story and channels Valerie's feelings into the plot of the story. The B plot, following Augustus and Lionel the robots, was really touching and I liked the twist of Augustus being the one in the tornado, even though the story makes that twist clear as you listen. In the end, I really enjoyed how the Doctor and Valerie’s relationship was handled and showcased a new dimension to the Doctor/companion relationship that we haven’t seen before.

A very good story to finish off the second Eleven & Valarie box set. The plot is essentially two separate two-handers. The story follows the fallout from the previous story, Curiosity Shop, and how that has effected Valarie, add to this an interesting situation, and we have a recipe for a great story. Safiyya Ingar is again the star of this piece. They have so much to work with here, but that isn't to say that Jacob Dudman doesn't get to show off his abilities. The atmospheric sound design is especially good for this release. These last two parts to the second box set have been more emotional than the rest of the series up to now. They have been good, but for me, this comes at the cost of enjoyability. Overall, this box set has been good, but not great like the first one.